Netanyahu 'Enraged' over Mosque Attack, Arabs Rioting

About 300 people began marching from Tuba toward Rosh Pina. They have been throwing rocks at police and burning tires.

By Gil Ronen

First Publish: 10/3/2011, 9:20 AM

PM Binyamin Netanyahu, 11.9.11

Flash 90

After an apparent arson attack on a mosque in the Bedouin Arab village of Tuba, about 300 people began marching from Tuba toward Rosh Pina Monday morning. They have been throwing rocks at police and burning tires. Police reportedly had pushed them back into the village by 9:00 a.m..

Large police forces are blocking the rioters from reaching a central junction and are using riot dispersal gear.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called the head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Monday morning and asked him to locate the people responsible for the arson as fast as possible.

Netanyahu's bureau said that the prime minister "boiled with rage" when he saw photographs of the mosque that was attacked and said that the action contradicts the values of the state of Israel, in which freedom of religion and worship are "supreme values."

"The pictures are shocking and have no place in the state of Israel," Netanyahu said.

Initial photos from the scene of the attack show some partially burnt carpets and charred walls.